Peter David - After Earth

It was coming.

There were unmistakable sounds of the claws snapping against the floor in the hallway. All human sound had drained away. While she had tried to coax Kitai to action, her fellow Rangers had cleared the floor, apparently just in time.

“Kit,” she said softly, “get under the bed.”

Kitai scrambled under the torn and twisted hammock, useless now for supporting him but still good for hiding under. Having pulled it completely over his head, he then backed up toward the corner.

“Senshi, come on,” he called to her.

She didn’t spare him a glance or reply but already knew there was nowhere near enough room under the bed to hide. And she remembered what her brother clearly had forgotten. The Ursa worked predominantly with its sense of smell. Hiding under the bed wouldn’t work as well as he had hoped.

All that she could focus on was protecting Kitai. She was his sister. She was a Ranger.

There wasn’t much time and even fewer options available to her. She finally spied the rounded glass box with plants in it. It was Kitai’s attempt at an indoor garden, but now it could be used for something far more useful. Quickly Senshi brought her fist down on a button at the end. The lid obediently slid open as she swept her cutlass around and attached it to her back with its magnetic clasp. Her hands free, she quickly unloaded the plants from the box, dumping them all over the floor, sending dirt flying everywhere.

Tight, but it will do. The soil and plant residue will help mask his scent .

She shoved the box toward Kitai, who hadn’t moved a muscle. Lowering herself to his eye level, she urgently said, “Climb in here, okay?”

“But… why?” He was not thinking clearly despite all the stories the general had told him.

“So it won’t be able to smell you. Hurry up!”

That snapped him into action, and he climbed in while she turned her attention to the sounds outside the apartment.

Where is it?

Satisfied he was secure, she put the case’s remote control into his hands. “Hold on to this.”

“But what do I use it for?” he asked.

“You use this when I tell you to. Or when a Ranger tells you to. Other than that, don’t come out. No matter what.

“That’s an order,” she added sternly.

She knew that those were words Kitai would respect.

His fingers hovered over the controls when she stole a moment and took his face in her hands. His skin was soft, smooth, unscarred by life. She would die before that changed. And she probably would.

“Did you hear what I said, little brother?”

“Yes, Sen—”

Once more they were interrupted by an Ursa’s roar, but this one announced its presence in their home. Maybe it was their conversation or the sudden burst of the soil smell in the house, but none of the reasons mattered. It was here.

Without hesitation, she pushed his hands atop the remote, closed the glass case, and then whipped her cutlass from its resting place, summoning it to life. She hefted the C-30, appreciating its solidity, and triggered the twin blades. Kitai was safe, and so she could focus entirely on the Ursa, which now was prowling her mother’s relaxation room. It once had been her bedroom, before she’d chosen to reside permanently in the Ranger barracks, making the transition from daughter to Ranger complete.

The Ursa was quiet and stealthy, but she knew it was there just as it knew she was nearby. Calmly, she assumed the classic horse stance, cutlass pulled back in two hands, ready to swivel and thrust the moment she could see the beast.

Senshi stole one look behind her, making eye contact with the terrified Kitai. Her hands made a downward gesture, keeping him low and safe. She nodded with confidence, assuring him he would be safe. This was what big sisters did.

As carefully as she could, keeping the cutlass behind her, she eased toward her old room. Then, spotting the Ursa’s shadow and noting its position, she changed her mind and began spinning her cutlass in a figure eight, letting it whir in the air. As she did, she issued the command to voice activate the naviband.

“This is Raige on the second floor. The Ursa is here. In my house. I have one child with me, but he’s secure. I could really use some backup. A Ghost or two if you could spare them.”

Her father had been the first Ghost, years before. Since then, there had been a few others who exhibited the same remarkable ability to mask their presence from the Ursa. There had been Daniel Silver, whom she met just once. And Blackburn, but he had gone missing and wasn’t someone her father liked to talk about.

McGuiness acknowledged her signal but added that reinforcements were minutes out. She wasn’t sure she had minutes, not with that thing in the room next door. That was why Ursa squads were required to have eight members.

“And you’re where?”

“Just heading back from the shelter. I should be with you in two minutes,” he told her.

She doubted that. She knew where the shelter was, and it was more than two minutes away. There was no choice: To save Kitai, she would have to engage the beast on her own.

This was what she trained for. What she lived for.

The Ursa chose that moment to walk into the room. It moved steadily on its six feet and clearly had a bead on her scent. If it imprinted on her, she was dead. If she could avoid that, she had a fighting chance of surviving. The Ursa must have sensed they were in tight quarters, and it stalked back and forth, blocking her only exit. She spun the cutlass about, making certain the creature knew she would not go down without a fight.

The figure eights were good for show and to loosen her muscles but also allowed her to build up momentum, and when the time was right, she lunged right at it. She hoped to inflict a good wounding blow and slow it down long enough for the reinforcements to turn up. As the weapon neared the Ursa, it backed up several meters. A quick thrust from one of its legs sent furniture crashing about.

Senshi sidestepped, allowing the furniture to tumble past her. At the same time, the Ursa tried to move in on her. Senshi pivoted and jabbed. The creature knocked the point of her weapon aside but failed to knock it out of her hands. Gritting her teeth, Senshi struck back, and that began the give-and-take, the thrusting and the jabbing. The Ursa bunched its powerful hind legs and lunged for her, but Senshi dropped low, bringing up the cutlass in a move that she was certain would impale the creature.

But it didn’t.

The Ursa landed clear of the weapon. That caught Senshi by surprise, momentarily making her falter. Her confidence rocked, she tried to bring the cutlass back around so that she could slice into the beast’s body.

That hesitation, that slowness of thought cost her. The Ursa was faster than she imagined, and before she could register its movement, a clawed foot lashed out and struck her. Talons cut into her right shoulder. She felt her skin split and then a rush of blood followed by intense pain radiating from her shoulder up her neck and down her arm. Her cries of pain sounded weak compared with the bellow of the beast.

The impact forced her backward, opening a space between them. She tried to backpedal and increase the distance, but the pain was all-consuming. The beast closed the gap, and she raised the cutlass with her good arm, ready to retaliate. Instead, with a swift wave of a leg, the creature knocked the cutlass from her unsteady grip. She heard it clatter to the ground but dared not take her eyes off the beast, certain it would lunge if she tried to retrieve the weapon.

The Ursa shifted its stance, and she took a chance, moving toward the fallen cutlass, but the beast howled anew and froze her. She was a Raige, and they never froze in battle. But she froze now, and it cost her.